Agriculture in RI

Five farmers share their stories - the urgent need to protect Rhode Island’s remaining working farms is complicated by challenges that farmers face: finding land to farm and sustaining the economic viability of farms.

Protecting Rhode Island's Working Farms

Go to the Farm Conservation page for the Council's other videos and reports about farm conservation in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island Land Trust Council

The Rhode Island Land Trust Council is a coalition of the state’s land trusts - community-based organizations formed to protect land that preserves the open spaces, natural areas, scenic character, farm lands, forests, historic sites, watersheds, and drinking water supplies that define the character of our communities and our state. Collectively, land trusts are preserving the special places that are our heritage and will be our legacy for future generations.

Photo credit: David Thalmann, Aquidneck Land Trust

Land Trusts in Rhode Island are grass roots organizations that reflect the uniqueness and priorities of their communities. Rhode Island’s first land trusts were formed in 1972. Today there are over 45 land trusts in the state.

Only 7 Rhode Island land trusts have staff - the others are volunteer organizations. Dozens of people across the state volunteer 100's of hours to preserve and manage our communities' most valued open space lands.

Get outdoors! Visit ExploreRI for information on land trusts’ walking trails.

Check out the special events for everyone, at every age - guided hikes, full moon walks, farm tours, hot dog roasts, community festivals,and a whole lot more.

Join us on the Rhode Island Land Trust Days Meetup. There’s no cost to sign up for Meetup. Go to meetup.com and sign up. Click on “Find a Meetup Group” and type in Rhode Island Land Trust Days. Once you sign up, you will get notified about any land trust events we post on Meetup. And “like” the Land Trust Days Facebook page.

71.1% of the voters approved the bond. The Open Space bond had the highest percentage approval of any question or candidate on the ballot.

Click here for the voter results for the bond by town with a comparison to the results for all open space bonds since 2004. Towns with the highest voter approval for the bond: Providence was #1 (84.5%), Central Falls was #2 (83.7%), Block Island #3 (81.0%) and Newport #4 (76.9%). Three towns tied for 5th — Barrington, Pawtucket, and Scituate with 74.7% approval. Jamestown was close behind with 74.5% approval.

In 23 communities, more voters approved the 2014 bond than approved the 2010 and 2012 bonds. Thus, over the past 4 years, an increasing percentage of voters in these towns are supporting funding to protect Rhode Island’s precious open spaces.